Commander
Deck list
View this Kaalia of the Vast deck list in Archidekt!
About Kaalia of the Vast
Kaalia of the Vast is definitely one of my favourite commanders. Combination of the strongest creature types in whole magic in a single deck and the description of Kaalia is amazing: "I'll have my revenge if I have to call on every force from above and below." I've had many interesting games with the current deck list, and hope you get some new deck building ideas.
Kaalia is very strong commander and one the few beatdown or combo-free decks able to run on cEDH level. Kaalia's ability is so strong even if you use the weaker creatures in angels, dragons and demons you will not have trouble beating your opponents if they don't have enough interaction.
Kaalia of the Vast precon: Heavenly Inferno
Kaalia precon deck Heavenly Inferno is one of the first commander precon decks from 2011. Other precons from the first cycle included Riku of Two Reflections, Ghave, Guru of Spores, Zedruu the Greathearted and The Mimeoplasm decks.
Kaalia of the Vast in EDHREC
Kaalia of the Vast is one of the most popular commanders in EDHREC with almost 5000 decks and is on rank #13 in popularity.
Possible themes for Kaalia
Kaalia of the Vast allows you to put any angel, dragon or demon creature from your hand tot the battlefield tapped and attacking. Kaalia's ability is not the most clear one so bear in mind Kaalia does not work with attack-trigger creatures like Drakuseth, Maw of Flames or Rakshasa Debaser. For this reason this deck focuses on ETB and saboteur (deals combat damage to an opponent) effects.
Kaalia Dragons tribal
Kaalia can run a strong Dragon tribal deck as most of the useful dragons are mono red or in rakdos. Red allows the speed and strength of dragons, black gives graveyard and card draw and white gives protection and removals in mardu. Other great dragon tribals I would recommend are dimir dragons tribal with Silumgar, the Drifting Death, and rakdos dragon tribal with Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury.
Kaalia Angels tribal
Angels provide most of the tax-like effects of the three tribals and angel tribal focuses heavily on punishing and slowing down the plays of others with cards like Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Archangel of Tithes.
Demons tribal
Demons have next to none synergies between them as a tribal, but most of the demons do have very interesting and strong effects like Sower of Discord and Archfiend of Despair. Due to this reason I'd recommend another commander for demon tribal, Rakdos, Lord of Riots as you get more demons on the battlefield than with Kaalia.
Strategy
This deck is strong, but not over the top polished cEDH deck. Every Kaalia deck is very aggressive as Kaalia's ability gives the strongest benefit in the early game where others are still building up their own game. For this deck the theme is mostly Angels and demons — and a few dragons. Main strategy of any Kaalia deck is:
Ramp to 4 as fast as possible
Setup protection for Kaalia
Setup haste for Kaalia
Play Kaalia, attack, and turn into archenemy as you get a free 6/6 flying beater with great abilities and opponents don't like it
Pinpoint the strong opponent down and remove from the game
Prepare for getting Kaalia removed every turn
Early Game
Turns 1 to turn 3 is the Early game. As Kaalia is a kill-on-sight commander we need to outpace opponents in terms of mana and ramp very aggressive. In mardu ramping is done completely with mana rocks and the deck contains every 2cmc colored-mana giving mana rocks. Kaalia needs {W}{B}{R} for casting, so colored mana is crucial.
Aim to be able to get Kaalia out on T3, so mulligan accordingly. Creating a reliable mana base with shock lands and fetch lands helps in the process a lot.
In early game you want to setup Kaalia with haste and protection, and the best Early game drops are Land Tax, Mother of Runes, any 2cmc mana rocks, Opposition Agent, Fervor, Lightning Greaves and Dragon Tempest.
Best drops with Kaalia's ability in the early game is protection with angels like Sephara, Sky's Blade, Angelic Arbiter, Avacyn, Angel of Hope or Serra's Emissary. All these creatures demand direct interaction from your opponents to address Kaalia and gives you massive head start on the battlefield.
Mid Game
T4 to T6 is the Mid Game. With Kaalia deck you aim to remove your first opponent in the Mid Game. If you spread your attacks to multiple opponents you are unable to remove any players and end up only making more enemies.
In Kaalia you often end up with an empty hand as you can easily use 2 or 3 cards from your hand on the battlefield. For this reason the decks runs card draw spells like Sign in Blood and permanent based card draw like Morbid Opportunist .
Mid game great drops include Terror of the Peaks, Sunforger, Harvester of Souls and Archfiend of Depravity.
Late Game
Turns after T6 is the late game. In late game with Kaalia you are either clearly controlling the board with flying beaters or you have close to nothing due to being the archenemy being pinned down.
Game enders include Master of Cruelties, Hellkite Tyrant, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Terror of Mount Velus and Vilis, Broker of Blood.
Honorable mention goes to Piru, the Volatile as it can easily make you unkillable with the ability to give you hundreds of life points and leaving you only vulnerable to combos and commander damage.
Overall review
Who is this for
If you have an attraction for some badass angels, demons or dragons and don't mind being the archenemy, Kaalia can really be the favourite deck for you. Keep in mind Kaalia is completely kill-on-sight commander so it is not easy to play with it and demands constant game state evaluation to know when to play Kaalia.
Maybe not for you
If you shudder cheating big threats to the table and hate being the center of attention I'd suggest trying something slower than Kaalia.
Power level
I'd evaluate this Kaalia build to be over 8 but under 9. Adding fast mana like Mana Crypt or moxes or a few back breaking cretures like Razaketh, the Foulblooded and Aurelia, the Warleader and protection like Giver of Runes will pump up the reliability of the deck so much I'd say it would be on cEDH level 9/10.
8+/10
